“Ghost Brothers of Darkland County,” John Mellencamp’s theater/music
collaboration with Stephen King, is coming to Minneapolis on Halloween at the
State Theatre. Meanwhile, the rocker is working on his paintings and re-watching
one of his favorite movies, 1942’s “Tortilla Flat.”

Says Mellencamp: “Starring Spencer Tracy and John Garfield, written by John
Steinbeck. I love Steinbeck. It’s a movie about possessions and how useless they
are. As a matter of fact, my girlfriend [Meg Ryan] said: ‘Do we gotta watch it
again?’ It’s kind of an unknown Steinbeck movie. It’s great.”